


Stuck

by nohbodyknows



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Claustrophobia, M/M, abuse mention
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-14
Updated: 2015-08-14
Packaged: 2018-04-14 18:05:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4574490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nohbodyknows/pseuds/nohbodyknows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short fic I did for tumblr user celloaquarius, go follow her, she's awesome.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stuck

  
  


You pull up your hood, shielding your head from the rain. Thank goodness you’re home already. It just started to pour as you left John’s house. He called you over to help him with his English homework. You don’t know why he made you come over when he could’ve just called and- wait a minute. You check your pocket for your phone and sure enough it’s gone. Damn Egbert. Now you have to go back, grab your phone, and delete the millions of selfies he’s sure to have taken by now. At least you would if you weren't just attacked by a walking cardboard box.

 

You fall back on the sidewalk and look up to see someone sitting on the floor, stuffing clothes back into a box. His shaggy black hair is falling over his bright brown eyes and oh shit he’s hot.

 

“Hey! Watch where you’re going you flaming pile of-”

 

“Woah, dude chill. No need to freak out or anything.” You look over at what must be his car. There’s still about five boxes crammed into the backseat. You help him put the stuff back in his box and stand up. Wow, he is way shorter than you first thought. Poor guy's barely five feet. Maybe that’s why he’s so angry, all his rage is condensed into one tiny body.

 

“I don’t need your help. I’m fine.” he says curtly and picks up his box.

 

“Well I think you do, Mr…?”

 

“Karkat. And if you’re so insistent on helping then grab a box and follow me.” He turns and starts heading into the apartment. You grab a box and hurry after him.

 

“The name’s Dave by the way.”

 

He just grunts and hoists his box higher.

 

“I live here you know. Top floor.”

 

Karkat presses the up button on the elevator and looks at you. “What is the point of telling me all this? Is there going to be a pop quiz about your life story at the end of this?” The elevator dings and you both walk in. You set your boxes down and Karkat presses the third floor button.

 

“No, I just thought I would try to start up a conversation.”

 

“Well it’s not working.”

 

“Oh really? Because it seems to me that we’re conversing right now.”

 

He rolls his eyes and leans against the wall. You do the same, your “conversation” now having died out. You can hear the rain from outside. It sounds like it's hailing now too. You hope Karkat's car doesn’t get too damaged. You don’t know why you care, the guy’s done nothing but yell at you since you met him. Maybe it’s the way he pushes you away that makes you want to get even closer. Okay wow that sounded cheesy even in your head. Tone down the romance, Dave, geez.

 

The elevator opens at the third floor and you carry your boxes out. Karkat leads to the second room on the right. He opens it to reveal an apartment identical to you and your brother’s. The only difference was that yours had a few gashes in the wall from surprise sword fights in the living room.

 

“Where do you want this box, Karkat?”

 

“Let me see it.” He reads the label on your box and points you to the bathroom. “That’s towels and stuff. Put it in there.”

 

You set the box on the bathroom sink and go back to the main room. Karkat comes back from what is probably going to be his room and looks around. He looks… scared? You can’t really tell. The emotion passes over his face quickly then goes back to being a stone cold bitch face.

 

“Come on. We should only have two more trips to make.”

 

You go back downstairs in the elevator and head out to his car. The hail is the least of your worries now. The wind is strong and threatens to blow you away.

 

“Hey!” You shout over the wind. “If you want you can stay with me tonight and grab the rest tomorrow.”

 

“No! I’m getting this done tonight. And there is no way I will stay the night with you.” He opens the door and grabs a box. You sigh and grab one as well. It’s hard to close the door against the wind but somehow you manage. You follow Karkat back into the apartment and into the elevator. You look at him and laugh. The wind made his hair stick up like a cockatoo’s.

 

“Shut up!” He smooths his hair back down. “You’re one to laugh. Look at yourself.”

 

You feel you hair and sure enough, you’re rocking the cockatoo as well. You laugh and pat it down. You look at him and swear you see a smile on his face.

 

It lasts for about five seconds. The elevator shakes and the lights flicker. Who’s screaming, you or Karkat? Yes. The answer is yes. The lights go out completely and the elevator stops. Your heart is beating out of your chest. This is fine. This is /totally/ fine. It’s not like you're scared of small dark spaces or anything haha nooo of course not. That is the opposite opposite of how you feel right now.

 

“Hey, give me the box you had.” It takes you a second to register what he said. You slide your box over to where you think he his. He grabs it and starts rifling through it. He pulls something out and soon the elevator is illuminated by a large flashlight. “You alright? You look paler than Frosty’s ass.”

 

“I’m always pale.” you try to sound as calm as possible, but there’s no hiding the small quake in your voice.

 

“No seriously, are you okay?” He brings the flashlight closer to you. You're surprised at the concern in his voice.

 

"Yeah, in just a little, claustrophobic I guess."

 

"Oh, well here." He moves the boxes away from you and hands you the flashlight. "That should probably help."

 

"Thanks." It helps a little. Sure you're still trapped in the dark but at least you got a flashlight. "So," you try changing the subject to distract yourself, "What made you decide to move here? Honestly there are a lot if better apartment a you could have chosen."

 

He's silent for a minute, like he's thinking. "I moved here because it was far away from where I was before."

 

"Great answer. Brief, cryptic, and hardly answers my question."

 

"Well why are /you/ living in this dump?"

 

"It's all we could afford."

 

"We?"

 

"I live with my older brother. Our mom died a few years ago and I never even knew my dad so we were just on our own, you know? My brother just turned 18 before she died so he became my legal guardian and moved us here."

 

"Oh."

 

And in comes the awkward silence. The storm is still raging outside. Every once in a while the wind will blow hard and shake the apartment, rocking the elevator back and forth. It's times like that when you grip the flashlight tighter. God you wish Egbert didn't take your phone. You could call 911 and get yourselves out of this mess.

 

“Hey Karkat, you got a phone on you?”

 

“I don’t have a phone.”

 

Crap. You guess your stuck here then. Is your bro even home? Probably not. And even if he is it’s not like he cares where you are. Or that the power’s out. He forgets to pay the bills so much the power might as well be out 24/7 at home. You've girlies talking to him about it, but that usually leaves you with just a few new scars to add to your collection.

 

"Shit, I left my car unlocked." Karkat says. "Do you think it will get stolen?"

 

"I don't know. Probably. Anyone desperate enough to live here is desperate enough to steal a car."

 

"Great. Just fucking perfect."

 

"But, who would steal a car in the middle of a storm?" You try to make the situation seem less bleak.

 

He shrugs and sits down on the floor. You do the same. The shaking feels not as drastic on the floor.

 

“So. You gonna tell me the real reason you moved here? We’re probably gonna be here awhile, so we might as well talk about something.”

 

“You’re a very nosy person, did you know that?”

 

“Alright, how about this. You tell me your secret, and I’ll tell you mine.”

 

“That depends? How dark is your secret?”

 

“Darker than this.” You turn off the light to illustrate your point, then quickly turn it back on.  

 

He laughs. “Alright. You first.”

 

“What? Hell no. I asked you first.”

 

“I asked you second.”

 

“Yeah, so? You go first.”

 

He sighs. “Fine. I used to live with my dad. He’s a pastor, and super religious. Like, he thinks he was chosen by God to spread His word, or something. And my brother was like his little prodigy. Whenever you did anything wrong he would give you a giant lecture on it and how you can better yourself. He was only a year older than me and he called me out on everything I did. It was fine, until last year. I- uh, I came out last year. Dad was pissed. He tried to send me to me some Christian camp to ‘cleanse my soul’ or some bullshit. So I left. I packed my bags and moved out. A friend of mine let me borrow her car, that’s why I don’t want it to get stolen.”

 

“That is a pretty deep secret, but I think mine’s deeper.”

 

“Impossible.”  
  


“Oh yeah? Listen to this.” You really don’t want to talk about this. On the list of things you want to do, this is below the bottom. It’s lower than Davy Jones’s Locker. But you figure if he was honest with you, it’s only fair to be honest with him. “My brother likes to swordfight. A lot. And he kinda uses me as a sparring partner. Even when I don’t want to. The worst part is I think he hates me. Like, a legit loathing for me. Why else would he kick my ass into the ground everyday? You know, I’m glad you didn’t want to stay at my place. You’d never want to be near me again. I have scars. Whenever he hits a little too hard, he justs leaves me to fix it myself. Whenever he got mad, I knew he would want to blow off steam on me, so I would always hide in my closet. I would hear him storm around the house until he found me. That’s why I hate being in here. It reminds of that stupid closet. I’m- I’m sorry I kinda went off a bit there.” You feel embarrassed letting yourself blow up like that. You don’t want to look at him. You don't want his pity.

 

“Wow. Your life is shit.” Okay maybe a /little/ pity would be nice.

 

“Yeah, I know. I live it.”

 

“Sorry, it’s just, I think you win most tragic backstory of the year award. I mean, sure I was always pissed at my dad, but at least he never tried to kill me.”

 

“Yeah. You still had it pretty rough though. I mean, at least me brother didn’t bother to pay attention to who I was.”

 

“Are you, you know?”

 

“I’m gay if that’s what you’re asking. None of my friends know yet. I’ve been, I don’t know, stalling I guess.”

 

“It’s not as bad as you think, as long as you tell the right person. I told my friend Kanaya and she just laughed. Turns out she figured I was all along.”

 

“Kanaya? Is she seeing anyone? I think I know her.”

 

“Yeah. Some chick named Rose. I’ve only met her once. She kinda scared me to be honest.”

 

“Rose is one of my best friends. And yeah, she can be creepy at times. Wait, you’re the guy who was yelling at everybody at Starbuck’s weren't you?” You laugh.

 

He smiles. “They were taking too fucking long. What was I supposed to do just stand there?”

 

“I don’t know, maybe you could wait like a normal person?”

 

“That's just the thing, I'm not normal.”

 

The lights above you flicker and turn back on. The elevator starts moving again. You breathe out a sigh of relief. You turn off the flashlight and return it your box. You notice it’s filled with movies.

 

“I didn’t know you were a fan of cinema, Karkat.”

 

“Give me that!” He drops the box he was carrying and grabs yours out of your hands.

  
  


“Oh, come on. It can’t be that bad. Wait, it’s porn isn’t it?”

 

“No!” His face turns red. “They’re romantic comedies.”

 

The elevator doors open and you scramble out. “That’s not that bad. I mean, we all have your weird obsessions. I, for one, collect dead things.”

 

Karkat laughs and opens his door. “Yeah, that is pretty weird.”

 

“Hey, maybe when you get settled in, I can come over and watch a couple movies with you?”

 

He looks shocked. “Oh, yeah. I mean of course totally that sounds awesome. How’s this Saturday?”

 

“Perfect.” You set down your box and walk with him back to his car, taking the stairs this time. It’s still raining, but not as bad as before. His car, thankfully, hasn’t been stolen. He grabs the last box and carries it inside. You both walk up the stairs, and you say goodbye to him as he enters the door on the third floor. You walk the rest of the way up to your apartment. Your brother isn’t home, so you go straight to your room and into your bed. You smile. Saturday cannot come soon enough.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Stay tuned for part two ;)


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